Status

The Sonic Taser is a hand-held, non-lethal, anti-personnel weapon developed by Stark Industries. It is designed to incapacitate an enemy by paralyzing them through exposure to a specific sonic frequency. It is one of Obadiah Stane's favorite items and one he carries on his person in most situations.

Contents

History

The Sonic Taser technology was developed by Stark Industries sometime in the years before Tony Stark's capture in Afganistan. The technology itself was disapproved by the government and never endorsed for production, but Stane decided to hold on to a functioning model for his own immoral uses.

During a trip to Afganistan to meet with Ten Rings commander Raza, after they failed to assassinate Tony Stark according to their deal, Raza began to negotiate with Stane to give him Tony Stark's prototype armor in exchance for giving Raza an army of similarly armored soldiers once the suit had been reversed engineered. However, Stane used his sonic taser to paralyze Raza and taunted him before ordering his group of hired mercenaries to take the prototype armor and kill Raza and the rest of the Ten Rings cell.

Stane once again used the Sonic Taser to paralyze Tony Stark and steal the Arc Reactor from his chest, in order to power Stane's new Iron Monger Armor. After taunting Stark, Stane leaves him to die slowly as the shrapnel is free to move through his paralyzed body. However, Stark was just barely able to move enough to reach a replacement Arc Reactor in time.[1]

Capabilities

The Sonic Taser is designed to be a small hand-held device capable of fitting in one's pocket and appearing inconspicious. It also comes with a special pair of ear pieces designed to filter out the sonic frequency so that the user is not affected when using the device.

The device delivers a high pitched sonic frequency that attacks the enemy's auditory system, overloading their nervous system and causes their entire body to lock up and become paralyzed. The effects last for fifteen minutes, after which it will slowly begin to wear off. During this time people who become affected become pale, have visible strain in their blood vessles and circulatory system, and may even have trouble breathing. In this state they are completely unable to move and completely at the mercy of the device's user.[1]

Despite being designed to be non-lethal weapons, symptoms on victims suggest that prolonged exposure could actually end up killing the incapacitated victim.

Trivia

An item very similar to the Sonic Taser was used by the Clairvoyant to kill Edison Po by sending deadly sound waves through his phone.[2]